Irak
I. Arab Life in the New Mesopotamian State
By Edmund Candler, c.b.e.
Author of "The Long Road to Baghdad "
THERE is probably less variety of
scenery in Irak — or, to give it
its old • name, Mesopotamia —
than in any other country of the same
extent. Arabia, at least, has the Yemen
range and the Jebel Akhdar, green and
grassy slopes rising 9,000 feet behind
Muscat, but Mesopotamia contains no
green valleys and tablelands save in
the ranges that form the glacis of
Persia and Kurdistan to the east and
north. To the west and south the
boundaries are desert and sea, and in
the country east of the Euphrates and
south of Basra the illimitable monotony
is repeated that is so wearisome to the
eye on the journey up the Tigris from
Basra to Bagdad.
On entering the country from the
sea the palm belt on the Shat-el-Arab,
stretching from the
Gulf to a few miles
north of Kurna,
where the Tigris
and Euphrates
meet, gives an
impression of
tropical fertility.
According to
the Moslem
geographers of the
twelfth century,
the gardens of the
Uballa Canal at
Basra were held
by the Arabs to
be one of the four
earthly paradises.
Kurna is reputed
by local legend to
be the Garden of
Eden, and a certain
gnarled thorn bush
is pointed out as
" the tree of the
knowledge of good
and evil." In the eyes of the first desert
dwellers this fringe of fertility would
naturally have appeared paradisiacal.
But it is an isolated zone, and does
not stretch more than half a mile
inland from the river bank. One
passes out of the shade of the palms
into the barren sand or baked clay
which is Mesopotamia.
That the country was once rich and
populous evidence abounds. North
of Ctesiphon one can scarcely traverse
a mile without discovering the site
of some ancient city or town. Every-
where one comes across mounds strewn
with fragments of vases, bricks, pot-
sherds, and glazed tiles. The remains
of ancient embankments which used to
carry the fertilising irrigation channels
to the fields are the only features on
»";/ ; p;yv : ; ~y. :. -y * ; z-:-3y \;
AN ARAB ARISTOCRAT
Beduins of the desert, of whom this man is
one, are the old aristocracy of Irak's Arab
population, disdainful of the degenerate ways
of their settled riverain kinsmen
Photo, R. Gorbold
the desert horizon
that the mirage can
torture into hills.
The bricks of
Babylon bearing
the stamp of
Nebuchadrezzar
(Nebuchadnezzar)
or Sardanapalus,
which were built
into the walls of
Hilla and Bagdad,
represent but a
single layer in the
strata of ancient
civilizations which
the thirsty soil of
the country has
swallowed up. In
Mesopotamia one
is reminded- every
day that the
territories subject
to the Osmanli lie
dead under his
hand, that the
2883
IRAK & ITS PEOPLE
10&M?*
>;;:ilS
GOLD AND SILVERSMITH OF AMARA
Age's quiet dignity and the assurance given by years of fine
and successful craftsmanship reveal themselves in the bearded
countenance of this ancient of Amara. The town was wrested
from the Turk by General Townshend in 1915
Plato, G. Wagstaff
blight where he has governed is as
certain as famine after drought.
Upstream of Kurna, on the Tigris
and Euphrates, one passes through the
country of the marsh Arabs. The land
visible from the lower reaches of the
Euphrates in the neighbourhood of the
Hammar Lake and Nasrieh is the richest
in Mesopotamia. In May and June all
this land is inundated ; the highest
ground in a village is not a foot above
flood level, and most of the inhabitants
take to their boats, leaving their reed
huts standing in water. Higher up-
stream the richness of the land becomes
apparent in the broad, strong towers
which lie like Saxon churches under the
palm clumps at intervals
on the horizon. On the
Tigris, a few miles above
Kurna, one enters a tree-
less tract of swamp and
desert with a thin belt of
irrigated land beside the
river. The villages
resemble those of the
Punjab or the North- West
Frontier of India, the
same sloping mud walls
enclosing the courtyard,
with the cow-dung cakes
for fuel plastered against
the walls to dry in the
sun. The only brick-
built habitation in the
permanent villages is the
house of the sheikh.
Above Amara the reed
huts of the Arab give
place to goathair tents.
The settled Arab
population of the
cultivated delta of the
Tigris and Euphrates are
descendants of immigrants
from the Arabian deserts.
Physically, the adoption
of the cultivator's life has
improved them ; they are
better nourished, stronger,
heavier, taller men than
the Beduins, and bigger
in the bone, though by
abandoning their nomad
existence they have lost
in honour and independence. The
Beduin scorns them, and will not inter-
marry with them. Yet, apart from the
town-dweller, the old tribal organization
remains, tribal law and customs hold
good, and the blood-feud is still
obligatory.
Many of the riverain Arabs are
handsome, and have a certain hawk-
like dignity and grace of carriage.
The women are fair, and go about
unveiled. Some of the children have
brown or chestnut hair. The riverain
Arab is noted for his teeming progeny.
The sheikh with three or four wives
can generally boast of a family of from
forty to fifty. The Muntafik, the first
,
2884
IRAK & ITS PEOPLE
tribal confederation one meets on leaving
the Shat-el-Arab and following up the
Tigris and Euphrates, a people spread
over some fifty or sixty square miles,
are believed to outnumber the Anazeh,
the great Beduin tribe which peoples
the desert from the borders of Syria to
the sands of Central Arabia.
The riverain Arab, degenerate as he
may be, judged by the Beduin code,
is not unmanly. Under the Ottoman
rule he consistently defied the Turk
when opportunity offered. There is
not a tribe on the Euphrates or Tigris
that has not been in a state of rebellion
at some time against the Osmanli.
The attempts to collect the rice revenue
from the Shamiah on the Euphrates
were always the prelude to quite
extensive autumn manoeuvres ; the
marsh Arabs lower down the river in
the neighbourhood of the Hammar lake
used to fire on the Turkish flag as a
matter of principle, so that it was
generally safer for the Ottoman official
to conceal his insignia of office.
North of the Muntaiik on the Tigris
one meets the Abu Mohammed and the
Beni-Lam, great rebels against the
Ottoman Government before the Great
War. The Beni-Lam have long had
the reputation of being the most
truculent and inhospitable of the Tigris
Arabs, men who, according to Layard,
neither respected the laws of hospitality
nor behaved in any sort like good
Mussulmans, who were as treacherous
as they were savage and cruel, and who
would cut the throat of a guest for a
trifle. They ioined the Turk against
the British, but proved most uncomfort-
able allies, turning always with the tide
SILVER SPEECH BEGUILES THE TASK OF BEATING OUT THE GOLD
Conversation is a serious occupation in the East, and the dark little shops afford pleasantly shady
recesses m which to carry it on. Here, in Mosul, a goldsmith, squatting on the floor amid all the
paraphernalia of his trade, clinks his hammer on the metal held in the vice before him, entertained
the while by a constant succession of garrulous neighbours
Photo, Major W. J. P.
2885
,:*'
I
"REVEALED THE SECRET STANDS OF NATURE'S WORK"
fflonrlWthmmts of the photographer prevailed over the force of convention, and this Bagdad Jewess
was Muced to nnvefl before the cainera the face on which none but her family was supposed to gaze.
The wHe of a wealthy man, her robe is of white silk of finest quality, fringed and lined with gold thread,
and her long braids of hair are fastened at the ends with trinkets
Photo, Major W. J. P. Rodd
2886
DARK EYES AND BRIGHT ROBES OF ARABY
Character and high intelligence as well as attraction are clearly marked in the pleasing features of
this dignified lady of Irak, with her shawled head and gay ornaments, as she stands beneath the
paim tree s shade. Her bare feet, accustomed to the lack of shoes, peep out beneath her dress as
she stands, confidence in every line of her, to undergo the novelty of being photographed
Photo, Major II'. /. P. Kodd
2887
If,
DINNER AND DEVOTION JOINTLY AIDING LABOUR
It would be surprising to see a gang of Roman Catholic navvies eating their dinner with their rosaries
ready at hand for immediate use afterwards. These Arab coolies, devout followers of Mahomet, see
nothing incongruous in eating their midday meal without tables or cloth, and spreading out their
prayer mat whereon to turn towards Mecca and pray at the appointed hour
Photo, Harry Cox
of fortune and murdering and looting
their Mahomedan brethren whenever
opportunity delivered them into their
hands. The Beni-Lam were not alone
in this. It has been the privilege of the
Arab in Mesopotamia for at least two
thousand years to attack, pillage, and
murder the losing side. They were
" the Saracens " who hung on the
flank of Julian's army and fell upon
the stragglers by the way. Townshend's
wounded were stripped and mutilated by
them. They are frankly plunderers, and
kill their prey before they strip it. They
dig up graves and leave the dead stark.
On account of these practices the British
and Indian troops in Mesopotamia
formed a very low estimate of
the Arab of the country, or only
admired him as an expert rifle thief.
The Turk has always had a contempt
for his fighting qualities, while the
proud Beduins of the inner desert,
" the people of the camel," will not
associate with him, and deny that he
is capable of loyalty even among his
own community. Nevertheless he is
not wanting in a kind of straw-lire
courage. If he has proved useless in war
it is because he has never felt bound
by any allegiance, but has played for
his own . hand, and therefore is found
on the side of the strongest battalions.
When he puts his person in jeopardy
2888
■V.y--"4foMf-t->:... •
<L^
ill ffr n
PEACE IN A BACKWATER OF A PALM-FRINGED STREAM
It is only in a narrow belt lining the river beds that any vegetation, even remotely suggesting the!
Paradise of tradition, exists in Irak. Here the date palms give a tropical appearance to the scene
and exclude thought of the arid waste behind. This pretty spot is a creek off the Shat-el-Arab,
near Basra, the mat-screened structures being a date-packing station
Photo, Harry Cox
he demands his quid pro quo. His Basra and Bagdad and the largest
adventures are frankly predatory, and landowners and wealthiest merchants,
his code, if ever he had one, has long The Sunnis among the settled popula-
since been forgotten. tion are, with few exceptions, town-
The bulk of the Arab population of dwellers. The nomad Arab, too, like
Mesopotamia are Shiahs, though the his brother of the Arabian ' desert, is
country has long been under the rule generally a Sunni ; but the Shiah
of the Turk, who is a Sunni. Under sentiment in Irak, which is the birth-
the Ottoman Government the Shiahs place of the religion, and contains the
had no political status. Shiah religious holy shrines of Kerbela and Najaf,
bequests had no legal recognition. Nor is so strong that generation after
was Shiah religious law, which differs generation of Sunni immigrants have
from that of the Sunnis, included in the adopted the faith of the country. In
Ottoman code. The Sunni minority in Bagdad there is a large Christian and
the country has a political and social Jewish population. The Armenian
importance out of proportion to its Bagdadis suffered less from the Turk
numbers. It includes the Naquibs of in and before the Great War than their
2889
IRAK & ITS PEOPLE
co-religionists in any other part of the
Ottoman Empire, and escaped the
general massacres. The Arabs of
Mesopotamia are little infected with
the fanaticism of Islam, while the
Turks were a small community, confined
more or less to the families of the
officials. The Armenians in Bagdad
were never regarded by them as an
economic menace, or even as a cause of
political uneasiness.
The Sabaeans, or Star Worshippers,
of Mesopotamia, as they are sometimes
called, are found scattered in the towns
by the two rivers. Their religious
observances make it incumbent upon
them to live near running water.
Suk-esh-Sheyukh is their headquarters
on the Euphrates and Amara on the
Tigris. They are a distinct people
with many curious characteristics and
beliefs, which they have inherited from
Jews, Christians, Pagans, and
Mahomedans. Their bible, the Sidra
Rabba, a jumble of borrowed and con-
tradictory doctrines, is a closed book
to the profane. They observe the first
day in the week, baptism, the Lord's
Supper, and reverence for John the
Baptist. Yet they are not Christians.
Neither are they Jews, though their
ritual of sacrifice and purification is
■a
a
GERM-FEARLESS DRAWERS OF WATER FROM OLD TIGRIS
Water supply and drainage systems are matters of small concern to the Oriental. At Bagdad
and other riverside towns in Irak the Arabs come down to the river to fetch water, the men with
the goatskins in which thev purvey it in the streets, the women with their ornamental pitchers,
all regardless of the fact that it is contaminated by sewage leaking down from the towns
Photo, Harry Cox
2890
IRAK & ITS PEOPLE
peculiarly Semitic. Expert
silversmiths, they were
known to the British
troops chiefly by their
inlaid work of antimony
on silver, probably the
only form of modern
indigenous handicraft
worth taking away from
the country. The
community form an
isolated guild, in which
the secrets of their trade
are preserved as jealously
as their religious arcana.
Another strange
obscurantist Mesopo-
t a m i a n cult is that
practised by the Yezidis
or devil-worshippers, who
dwell in the Jebel Sinjar
1
w
range, to the far north, a persecuted
non-Arab race, probably of Kurdish
stock. The principle of evil which they
propitiate is symbolised for them in the
snake and the sacred peacock.
In the latitude of Bagdad the Tigris
and Euphrates are within twenty-five
miles of meeting. This means that the
roads from the Mediterranean into Asia,
the Tadmor-Deir-el-Zor route by the
Euphrates, the road which crosses the
Taurus by the Cilician Gates and follows
the Tigris down from Mosul, all lead to
Bagdad or Babylon. The convergence
of the river routes has from time
immemorial dictated the site of the
metropolis of Mesopotamia. Bagdad, too,
receives the commerce of the Gulf ; it is
IBIf
if
^Bl
"JUDGE THE WORLD BY THE WAY THEY TREAD"
In their queer little caverns in Bagdad, Arab shoemakers turn out
scores of pairs of the heelless slippers affected by the population,
and, like the old cobbler shown above, patch up soles worn
threadbare on the ill-paved streets
Photos, R. Gorbold
2891
MAMMON SETS HIS MARKET ALONGSIDE THE MOSQUE
Floods played havoc with Bagdad in the early part of the nineteenth century, and it is only in the
solidly-built mosques that good examples of early Arab architecture remain. "Outside these old brick
buildings, variegated with peacock-blue and old gold, a cosmopolitan crowd is generally found, venders
of bread,, sweetmeats, and fruit welcoming the open spaces as a convenient market place for their wares
Photo, Major W. J. P. Rodd
2892
wmm
liMfiiiifii;-
^Sifillll
PURSUING THEIR LAWFUL OCCASIONS IN LABYRINTHINE BAGDAD
Bagdad long ago lost the magnificence of architecture and ornament that made it famous in the days
of Haroun Al Raschid. The town, as it now exists, lacks plan, and the unpaved, mostly narrow streets
are flanked by uninviting houses of yellowish red brick taken from old ruins, with latticed windows
on the first floor, and, below, only mean doors to break the monotony of the walls
Photo, Major W. J. P. Rodd
2893
IRAK & ITS PEOPLE
easy of access by river from the desert
outposts on the Euphrates, where the
caravans off-load from Central Arabia ;
it is the ancient Babylon-Ecbatana
(Hamaclan) road which was the pathway
of armies for centuries before the
Chosroes, and it lies on the great pilgrim
route from. Persia to the holy Shiah
shrines of Kazimain, Kerbela, and Najaf.
Thus, in the narrow barren strip of
land between the Tigris and the
archaeologists have identified the
crumbling monuments of succeeding
dynastiesoftheAssyrian,neo-Babylonian,
Persian, and Greco-Parthian periods.
Ctesiphon, eighteen miles from
Bagdad, was the capital of the Sas-
sanidae, and Seleucia, on the opposite
bank of the Tigris, of the last Greek
empire in Mesopotamia. Bagdad, in
the time of the Abbasid Caliphs, was
the centre of Islam, and in after years,
CROSSING THE TIGRIS TO MOSUL BY THE BRIDGE OF BOATS
Mosul, always important from its position on a great caravan route into North-West Persia, has
acquired new importance from the oilfields in the vilayet of which it is the capital. It stands on
the Tigris, here crossed by a bridge, partly of stone and partly of boats. The latter portion can be
cut in time of flood, or to allow the passage of traffic
Photo, Major IF. /. P. Rodd
Euphrates, three hundred and fifty miles
inland from the Persian Gulf, the
excavator has brought to light the
relics of many buried civilizations.
The buildings which are pointed out to
the visitor at Babylon belong to the
comparatively modern period of
Nebuchadrezzar (561-504 B.C.), but
there are traces in the ruins left by the
first Babylonian kings (circa 2,500 B.C.),
and deep down below the water level
relics that point to a prehistoric
city. In the strata superimposed
until General Maude entered the city
in March, 1917, the southern capital of
Asiatic Turkey. Since Aug. 23, 192 1,
the Emir Feisal has reigned there as
king of the Arab confederation which,
under British auspices, replaced the Turk.
Bagdad has probably always been
cosmopolitan. In the arched and
vaulted thoroughfares of the bazaars
one meets a diversity of races, drawn
as in old times along the old roads to
the metropolis by motives of commerce
or faith. The mosque of Abdul Kadr
2894
- '
*«£&
it
illiM f s k= " '"
I 5 * ■
MERCHANDISE AVAILABLE FOR EVERY TASTE AND NEED
Merchandise of all kinds is stacked in the dark little shops that line the arched and vaulted thorough-
fares of Bagdad's bazaars, and the races represented among the buyers and sellers are as various. Flat
projecting beams supporting roofs of dried leaves or branches of trees and grass, are common in the
streets. of the business quarter and afford grateful shelter from the sun
Photo, J. L. Mudd
'
CIVILIZED DESCENDANTS OF ANCIENT NOMAD STOCK
Exceptional dignity and grace, and beauty of no mean order, are displayed by these Arab women of
Amara. The family belongs to the higher social class of the settled Arab population, engaged for the
most part in business, and the man was in the service of the British Government as interpreter to the
forces. Riverain Arab women are fair, and go unveiled
Photo, C. Kemp
2895
IRAK & ITS PEOPLE
ONE OF "THE PEOPLE OF THE CAMEL"
Beduins of the inner desert are a fine, proud people, generally of
commanding figure, erect, lithe, and taut as steel, with a stamp of
nobility set on their features by generations of freedom
Photo, R. Gorbold
is frequented by Sunnis from all over
the East ; the Shiahs pour in from
Persia and India to the shrine of
Kazimain, many of them Seyyids,
descendants of Ali, with their tar-
bushes wound round with the green
turban. One may recognize the Kurds
and Lurs by their high bulbous hats of
rough felt, like elongated coal-scuttles,
their smooth locks hanging free and
clipped about their ears after the
Afghan fashion ; the Bakhtiari by his
brimless top hat, the Tartar by his
astrachan of the north. The fez, of
course, is ubiquitous, and is worn by
Turks, Armenians, and
Jews, and by all the
hybrid flotsam and jetsam
of the streets, from the
Turkish official to the
Chaldaean astrologer or
Ethiopian slave. The
precise - looking Persian
merchant from Dizful or
Ispahan is wearing the
brown or black abas of
the Arab, which flows
from the shoulder like
an undergraduate's gown.
The keheh, the headgear
of the Arab, is a blue or
red-spotted kerchief,
bound round with the
aagal, a twisted coil of
black or brown camelhair
rope. Many of the women
wear black horsehair'
visors ; one meets them
coming up from the river
bank carding water in
tapering copper vessels
with fluted necks.
The dark taverns are
crowded with Arabs, who
squat on their high pew-
like benches, gravely
discussing the high politics
of the desert, drinking
coffee, and playing
dominoes or dice. Wild-
'eyed Beduins, generally
on horseback, pass dis-
trustfully in the streets,
which in many quarters
are so narrow that the
bags on the pack-animals rub the walls
on either side, while the latticed and
fretted bow-windows overhead almost
meet. The massive iron-clinched doors,
with their curious antique brass knockers,
open into spacious courtyards planted
with palms and orange trees and pome-
granates. The houses are two-storeyed,
the verandas on the four sides of the
first floor overlooking the courtyard.
In the dog-days the Bagdadi takes
refuge in the serclab, a kind of vaulted
cellar sunk some six feet under the
ground level with ventilation shafts,
which run up to the roof and end in
1
2896
-,
ITALY: TWO GAY RAGAZZI OF THE CAMPAGNA
The vivacity of tbese two sun-tanned lads of the Roman Campagna is drawn, like the love of
colour displayed in their traditional costume, from the brightness of their own blue skies
To fa
2986
Pholo, Donald McLeish
ITALY: TWO GAY RAGAZZI OF THE GAMPAGNA
The vivacity of these two sun-tanned lads of the Roman Campagna is drawn, like the love of
colour displayed in their traditional costume, from the brightness of their own blue skies
_ , Photo, Donald McLeish
To face page ZVHo
IRAK & ITS PEOPLE
hood-like cowls, all pointing the same
way to catch the shamal, or prevailing
north wind, which provides the only
alleviation against the suffocating heat.
The temperature in the serdab is
generally from eight to ten degrees
lower than in the rooms on the first floor.
From May to October the whole
population of the city sleeps on the
roof. In 1917 the shade temperature
rose to 122.8 degrees in Bagdad, and
122 degrees in Basra. Bagdad has the
advantage of a drier atmosphere and
cooler nights than obtain in the lower
part of the delta, where the humidity of
the air is relaxing. Perhaps the climax
of discomfort in Mesopotamia is reached
in Basra during September, when " the
date wind," under which the crops ripen,
rolls up the moisture from the Gulf and
then, drops, leaving a clammy, humid
film in the air as suffocating as a blanket.
The only broad thoroughfare in
Bagdad was cut through the city in
1916, and named after Khalil Pasha", the
Turkish commander, to whom General
Townshend's garrison surrendered. By
the irony of fate, the street which was
built to commemorate the British
reverse at Kut was completed just in
time to admit the passage of the British
troops, eleven months afterwards,
through Bagdad. The architecture of
the city is picturesque and distinctive,
if not imposing. In colour the only
relief to the dun monotony of the walls
and roofs is the peacock-blue and old
gold of the mosques and minarets.
Few of the buildings are old. The
foundations of, most of the houses gave
way in the floods of the thirties of the
nineteenth century, bat the old bricks
have been used again, some of them the
debris of Babylon, and there is no air
of modernity in the purlieus of the city.
The mosques, with their solid founda-
tions, escaped destruction by the flood,
and have preserved some good examples'
of fourteenth-century Arab architecture.
The most inspiring view of Bagdad
is from the broad sweep of the river
front. The chief houses and consulates
an
m
BY PREHENSILE
DEFT FINGERS SUPPLEMENTED Br PR iri L Nf,l L F rOF<3
motion - The sun ^ln tL ^'vi 1 Sa^tEWhSs »„•»
steadies the chisel that is held with both feet and one hand
Photo, R. GorboU
^■pynghhi, 1922, by (hi Amalgamated Pfiti\xg»t), Limited
2897 l04
tWGKftf-
Ilsfe .site*
■ --^V'"^
" ARAB BOYS PADDLING CANOES IN FRONT OF BAGDAD^ ^^
As peculiar to the Tigris as the gufa and mahatla .s the be U^ a . b . ht, r^ther^ , t
boat which is paddled or poled according to the deptn 01 ™?J" h numerous little tidal canals
^^^krh^T^^lo^:^ Ire ralfSaed forms of the helium
Photo, W. A. Harvey
are built on immensely solid revetments
with their foundations deep in the water.
Many of them have small gardens with
steps running down to the river. The
main city is on the left bank , the
suburb on the right bank contains little
of interest beyond Zobeide's tomb, a
tall tapering, crenellated minaret, like
an 'inverted fir cone. The railway
station lies in the desert beyond, a mile
from the Tigris. The river is now
crossed bv two bridges of boats,
admitting of traffic passing only one way.
The cauldron-like gufa described by
Herodotus, a reed basket with wooden
uprights planted over with pitch from
the bitumen wells of Hit, is still used as
a ferry and is probably the oldest type
of vessel in the world. The long
narrow canoe-shaped boat is the Arab
bellum, the gondola of Basra, which is
paddled or poled, according to the
depth of the stream. The mahailas,
with their high forward-sloping masts,
huge rudder, lateen sail, cut-away
barbed prow, and poop boarded over
for the crew, are the indigenous cargo-
boats of the river, and carry anything
from fifteen to seventy tons. Down-
stream on the Shat-el-Arab, the bold
and sweeping curves of the river craft
are even more reminiscent of illus-
trations of the sagas. At Basra one
meets the Arab buggalow, with the
penthouse roof astern, intricately
carved, and windows through which one
looks for the face of Sindbad, or the
boom of Koweit with its sharp stern
and nose of a swordfish.
The country around Bagdad is cap-
able of great fertility. A single year of
British administration sufficed to alter
the face of the desert, and achieved
more for the prosperity of the Arab
than a century of Ottoman " reform.
The settlement and development of the
country kept pace, as the Expeditionary
Force advanced, with the occupation.
Under Ottoman rule, owing to the lack
of control of the irrigation, and the
vicious land revenue system with its
fluctuating assessments, which left the
cultivator at the mercy of the farmer
of taxes, outlay and initiative were
2898
V.
IRAK & ITS PEOPLE
discouraged
The new system saw the
lifting of the general blight.
The constructive energy of the
British was visible in the railways,
dykes, dams, and irrigation channels.
Land which had lain fallow for years
became rich and profitable. The great
Euphrates Irrigation Scheme, designed
by Sir William Willcocks and con-
structed by Sir John Jackson's firm,
was actually finished before the Great
War, but the Turk, by his supineness,
neglected to profit by it. The digging
of the new canals and the scouring out
of the disused ones, essential to the
working of the scheme, was left to the
British. They occupied the district in
June, 1917 ; three hundred thousand
acres were at once brought under
irrigation, and the summer of 1918 saw
a blossoming of the desert which had
no parallel in the memory of the Arab.
The mineral wealth of Mesopotamia
is limited to the bitumen wells of Hit,
the petroleum wells of Qaiyarah in the
neighbourhood of Mosul, and a few
stone quarries on the Euphrates. The
undeveloped resources of the country
are mainly agricultural. Its potential
productivity has perhaps been
exaggerated. Nevertheless, with capital,
initiative, and a settled government
it might yet become a considerable
granary as in the past.
Under the Emir Feisal the Arabs
have again become the dominant race.
They are a homogeneous people, speak-
ing one language. But any forecast
of the future in which they figure as
the regenerators of the soil that has
been restored to them must be guided
by considerations of their character
and history. It would be unwise to
count too much on the development
of Mesopotamia by the Arab, whether
fellah or Becluin, until he has proved
himself strong enough with British
support, unbacked by the necessary
legions, to maintain his solidarity and
independence.
Mesopotamia, with all its historic
associations dating from the Sumerian
•'■V-*'" ..*,.
QUAINT BASKET BOATS USED FROM IMMEMORIAL TIMES
Probablv the oldest type of vessel in the world, the gufa is still used, chiefly for ferrying purposes,
on the Tigris. It is a large circular basket of reeds, plastered inside and out with pitch from the
bitumen wells of Hit. Gufas vary considerably in size, and are used both for conveying passengers
and for transporting fruit or other commodities
Photo, W. A. Harvey
2899
Jgpj
mm
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i
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I
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•»x
" FRESH FRUIT AND VEGETABLES FOR SALE IN MOSUL
"islands' and Sy portionfof Thf nve^befof the Tigril during the season of low water
Photo, Albert E. Cree
2900
All is grist that comes to the mill of this Arab tinsmith, and the unusually tidily arranged shelve* of
his small workshop show a curious medley of wares-Eastern jars and lanterns rubbing sfoulders with
Western tankards and pot-belhed circular-wick lamps, while bully beef tins provide him with plenty
ol tin and solder for patching up old vessels and fashioning new
Photo, R. Gorbold
2901
IRAK & ITS PEOPLE
»€r»i
BEARDED WEAVER OF IRAK'S CHIEF CITY
With his twelve spindles swollen with thread this Bagdad
weaver is holding them up for inspection against the ancient
wall of time-worn bricks between whose interstices the mortar
has long since begun to crumble
Photo, R. GorboU
paradise, is singularly devoid of ancient
monuments or relics, beyond brick and
dust, of bygone civilizations. The only
abiding monument of man's greatness
that still stands on its foundations is
Ctesiphon, the arch of the Chosroes.
Far more attractive than the Biblical
or classic sites of Mesopotamia are the
Shiah shrines of Najaf, Kerbela,
Kazimain, and Samarra. Kazimain,
four miles upstream from Bagdad, on
the Tigris, is the burial-place of the
seventh and ninth Imams. Samarra
on the Tigris marks the spot where the
twelfth and last of the Imams — the
promised Mahdi— disappeared in a cave
before he reached the age of
twelve. The pilgrims who
flock to the golden mosque
near by Julian's tomb
expect his advent there.
At Kerbela is the
mosque of the martyred
Hussein, the son of Ali,
and at Najaf the mosque
of Ali. These desert
shrines, lying on the
pilgrim route from Bagdad
to Mecca, are a magnet
for the faithful all over
the East, for the religious
sentiment of the fervent
Shiah clings more closely
to the tradition of Ali and
Hussein than to the
memory of the Prophet
himself. It was at
Kerbela, some twenty
miles to the west of the
Euphrates, that Hussein
and his small band
were overwhelmed. The
Moharrarn festival, which
is celebrated by the Shiahs
with such frenzied beatings
of the breast, weeping, and
self-inflicted wounds, is a
dramatisation of the scene
at Kerbela. After twelve
hundred years their anger
and sorrow are so intense
that the uninitiated
spectator might think they
.were commemorating a
tragedy of yesterday.
It is the dearest wish of the Shiah' s
heart to be buried at Najaf or Kerbela
that they may be near Ali or Hussein
on the Day of Resurrection. Their
Wadi-al-Salam, or Valley of Peace, is
the fold in the desert outside the north
wall of Najaf. Here one may meet
the bodies of the faithful coming in from
Merv or Bokhara, or Teheran, wrapped
in wattle or silk or bundles of palm
leaves, according to their condition.
Some lie buried in the mosque itself
where Ali lies, others in the houses of
the city, or in rooms rented by relatives
of the corpses, but most in the vast
cemetery beyond the north wall, directly
2902
.
IRAK & ITS PEOPLE
between Ali and Hussein, among
crumbling monuments and humble slabs,
where countless small domes, the colour
and shape of thrushes' eggs, lend the
only relief to the camel-coloured sand.
Najaf is far the most picturesque
and impressive desert city in Mesopo-
tamia. It stands on a high bluff six
miles from Kufa, its river port on the
Euphrates. The golden dome and
minarets of Ali's tomb, dominating
the earth-coloured walls of the city,
are visible to pilgrims three marches
from the shrine. Apart from its sanctity,
Najaf is a great desert emporium where
the caravans of Central Arabia bring
in the raw material of the desert and
return with rice and clothing, where
Beduin middlemen exchange the silks
and calicoes of Horns and Hama with
grain, cattle, and merchandise from
Basra or Bombay.
The city, but for the fact that it is
approached by a tramline from the
Euphrates, shows no trace of Western
influences. The merchants and their
clients probably differ little in dress,
habit, or mind from those who frequented
the dead cities of the Euphrates in
the clays of Pharaoh. One may watch
the wild Beduin, who regards the door
of a house as a trap and a roof over his
head as a menace to his security, and the
Persian pilgrim floating ecstatically in
the crowd intoxicated with religious
fervour. It is difficult to get a near "view
of the mosque. Only as one wanders
in the bazaars one catches a glimpse
of the rich mosaic of blue and green and
gold glittering at the end of some
covered avenue.
At Kerbela and Kazimain one may
stand by the gate and peer into the
courtyard, but at Najaf a near approach
to the shrine by the infidel is resented,
and the only way to gain a view of it is
from the roof of some friendly Arab or
Persian's house. The bazaars, an irregular
and intricate warren of alleys and
courtyards, preserve more of the ancient
ja*^**
WARP AND WEFT ON A SILK LOOM IN BAGDAD
Among the oldest of handicrafts is the weaving of fabric, and here we see an Arab hard at work
rTrnrdoles of't'he CeU< T ; m w^ , C ° o1 atmos P here he <=an labour the more comfor ablv. The ma
principles of he machine before him are similar to those which have been in use generation after
generation, for modern appliances make but slow progress with the native craftsman
Photo, R. Gorboli
2903
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2904
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2905
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2906
^r- ,□«./. A MAN WITH TWO TRADES
BARBER-SURGEON OF IRAK. A MANWI ^ the smile on his
Mephistophelean features, In Amara ■» ^ f surprising when the At
ll^^J^™tJ%lX^to le P ave all to Allah are
considered
Photo, E. Kemp
Fast than one finds in other Arab cities.
Those of Bagdad, Cairo, and Damascus
appear modern and hybrid in com-
parison with them. The city is fabulously
rich for the profits of sanctity from
endowments and the contributions of
the faithful are great. Treasure m the
and sealed
pearled curtains is buried
in the vaults of the mosque.
A large part of the population is
dependent on religious charities. The
city contains more than twenty ecclesi-
astical colleges and some 6,000 students
of religious law. As the seat of the great
the faithful are great, treasure in mt o & ^ r of prom .
2907
IRAK & ITS PEOPLE
the Koran and the Law, Najaf
has always exercised a predominant
influence in Shiah Islam. In Persia
especially, the home of Shiahism, this
influence has been felt, and it was said
in the past that the Mujtahids could
make or unmake a Shah. Now that
democracy has entered the East, the
to the Syrian border. These tribes were
practically independent of the Sultan ;
the Turks did not attempt to impose
military service on them.
In the absence of the Osmanli,
sentiment points to the Emir Feisal,
the popularly-elected sovereign of Irak,
the son of the Sherif of Mecca, an Arab
of the family of the Prophet, as their
natural ruler. But the politics of the
inner desert are as shifting as sand.
The picture of a centralised Arab
organization of tribal groups owing
permanent fealty to an overlord is a
chimerical vision. The proud Beduin
has always been his own master, and
probably always will be. The only
hold the paramount power in Bagdad
TO HEIGHTS OF LEARNING BRED
Learned in both civil and ecclesiastical law,
the Mullah is an influential personage among
all Mahomedan peoples. In Irak he beats the
drum ecclesiastic to less martial purpose than
some of his brethren have done elsewhere
Photo, R. Gorbold
sanction of Najaf or Kerbela is sought
by parties and factions where it used
to be sought by kings, and the desert
cities have become even more the seats
of religious bigotry and fanaticism and
the storm centres of political intrigue.
The Euphrates markets, of which
Najaf is one, are the connecting links
between the great nomad confederations
and the settled population of the
riverain tracts. The rulers of the inner
desert are Ibn Rashid and Ibn Sa'ud,
the Emirs of northern and southern
Najd, and farther north, Fahad Beg,
the chief of the Anazeh, who are spread
over the desert from the Euphrates
ARAB WITCHERY UNVEILED
Her languorous eves, pencilled brows, and the
half-smile that 'just lifts a corner of her
mocking mouth are eloquent of the torrid East
Photo, R. Gorbold_
can have over the desert tribes is by
closing the markets to them.
The Beduins are independent of
everything but supplies. Guns, and
pots and pans, corn and ammunition
the desert cannot give them. They must
come in to the frontier outposts for most
--
2908
R E L,G,OUS ECSTASY RUNNING R.OT ,N ^JEJJAST OF J™£JJ ^
Fanaticism goes to extremes among some Mayans and ex r—ry scenes^ rf Ramad
occasion of certain religions ceremonies Th ^t en day themselves with knives m token
specially ^^J^^^L^tt tortus of flagellation on th.ir own bodies
CARNAGE SELF-WROUGHT AT HILLA ,N THE CAUS^OJ JOUN EJ8^ ^
Parched with thirst and e^ustedby *^^ *£SW, snown supported
--their self-torture even to death -J^^K^ minutes later. These photographs give some
'* ^rXTt^^ltS^^ll, it was enacted at Hula m November, xox8
2909
m
■IP '
IP
mm
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=/ V ?,^Sf *% J^
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m
AFTER THE FRUIT IN A GROVE OF DATE PALMS
Tension on the rope aronnd the trunk enables the climber to maintain himself, and he is further aided
in th s bv the deep leaf-scars which afford a foothold. The date palm, a native of North Africa, is also
cultivated in the Levant and India, but there is a world of difference m the quality of the fresh-plucked
article and the dried remnant of export
Photo, J. L. Mudi
2910
* :■->► ■
PI
-„,,,-c nc THF EARTH IN DUE SEASON
GATHERING THE FRUITS OF TMfc tarn f Tk and its fru it is their
' Priolo, Harry Cox „._.....- , , "
jP 1 ^
«*
As
its
Ira
"~"^T THE EYE DOESN'T S EE THE ^ " ^J ^^frSe^atoercd to
£ this is done as shown here, ™° a ^M trodden in some vineyards
Photo, J. L. Mudd
2911
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2912
'
V2(
\
.
IRAK
life. In
up or
-
of the. necessaries of life. In the
wilderness they may set up or depose
their sheikhs, settle their own con-
federacies, but their dependence on the
markets for provisions and clothing
enforces on them, if not an exact
observance of treaties, at least a certain
respect for constituted _
government in the settled ■
tfacts and some limit to
tj-ieir depredations.
Beside the fellah of
t he delta the Beduin is
generally a commanding
figure, thin, erect, lithe,
and taut as wire, with a
certain stamp of nobility
on his features, the
imprint of generations
of freedom and self-
sufficiency. In the same
way, the waste lands over
which the children of the
wilderness exercise their
primitive sway are
more inspiring than the
disciplined tracts that
have absorbed their
degenerate kinsmen.
After die monotony of
lower Mesopotamia it is
a relief ,o come upon land
with any features to it.
The limits of the flat,
uncompromising delta are
reached on both rivers
some sixty miles north of
Bagdad.. At Hit, on the
Euphrates, one enters a
new country, a land of
limestone and gypseous
clay, where the valley
w'nds between low hills.
Between Samarra and
Tjekrit, on the Tigris, one
filters the broken desert
S&eppes that stretch north-
Ward for 150 miles to
.-Mosul, an arid, verdureless country, but
- very satisfying to the eye after the delta.
The cultivation between the rivers is
negligible. The Euphrates, along its
• whole course, is the more fertile of the
two. The spring vegetation, though
short-lived, is fresh and homelike, in
D32
& ITS PEOPLE
great contrast to the tracts farther
south that are as flowerless as the
deserts of Sind or the Punjab
But the best antithesis to the dead,
featureless land through which the
British troops fought their way up the
Tigris will be found in the Jebel Hamrm
.».•'*-'-;.
:mm
WESTERN DEVICES FOR EASTERN DEVOTEES
&&&$£$$&&
built a small tram line 111 ih/o
Photo, K. N. Uoyser
range and the Diala valley close to the
Persian border. The broken ground
here is the old sea margin ; north and
east the landscape becomes more varied
rocks and streams and meadows, which
in spring are carpeted with wild flowers
One has left behind the flat alluvial silt
2913
1P4
IRAK & ITS PEOPLE
k il_4
... 4, l
-4-
: ;
■ ■■'•;■..■■■■■..
■ ^
i: % ^y#5
land intermittently along
the banks of the two rivers.
No religious, intellectual,
or Arab nationalist move-
ment is likely to proceed
from the soil of Irak.
Arab regeneration, if it is
to come, will be inspired
by " the people of the
camel," who alone have
preserved the indepen-
dence of character fron' 1
which initiative springs.
For centuries the Ottoman
hand has laid its blight on
the country, forbidding ini-
tiative, sterilising spirit and
matter. British adminis-
tration, which alone might
have saved Mesopotamia, is
out of the question. And it
would be sanguine to hope
that, under the Arabs, if,
indeed, they are left in
possession, the desert will
ever be restored to its
Babylonian fertility.
i
PRIDE OF POTTERY
This is the potter's daughter
engaged in arranging the
products of her father's
craftsmanship, damp from
the whee!, to dry in the sun
where flowers do not grow,
or grow unwillingly.
Kurdistan, farther north,
part of which also falls
within the confines of
Mesopotamia, is a land of
streams and rolling downs
and wide horizons bounded
by the hills, a fertile,
well-watered plateau, with
abundant cornfields and
pasture. Stripped of this
fringe of foot-hills,
valleys, and mountains,
which really belong-
geographically to Persia
on the east, and Asia
Minor on the north,
Mesopotamia is easy to
describe : flat desert or
undulating barren steppes,
with strips of irrigated
SEMI-FINAL STAGE IN THE BIRTH OF A BOWL
Here the glazing mixture is being applied to the almost finished
article, and behind the aged workman are rows of ready-fashioned
crockery in process of drying before being taken to the kiln
Photos, M.ijor W. ]. P. Rodd
2914
f«"i
l ^.
■*^«L
~;*§*8
, , niSTRICT OF BAGDAD
which to choose, ana otb^ ^ positiou that the camera
general, has taken p _
V
Plote, Major if- '• '
2915
^
S&*
n
€|P*
A HUMAN AIR PUMP
He is inflating a skin to serve as a float, a task
for which he would find a bicycle pump better
adapted than lips and lungs
.FLOATING MADE EASY
.With his goatskin filled, the native wades into
the river, confident that however long its
crossing takes he certainly will not sink
H
11
SSI
IKE
mmm
TAKING HIS CUSHIONED EASE ON TIGRIS STREAM
Goatskins filled with air are an ingenious device in common use for crossing the Tigris. Blowing one
up as shown above, the native rests his breast upon it and propels it forward by kicking out with
his legs, A similar device in use on the river Sutlej in India is shown on page g8og
Photos, R* Gorbold
2916
Irak
■ * the Modern Arab State
n From Babylon's Empire to the Mo
Bv A. D. Innes, M.A.
(the World "
■- e Editor o* '■Harmsworth's History ol the
Associate tauor
.N
n-f Mesopotamia signifies
THE ^Vwf °Stween and m-
the la^^yiag^eVng of the two
eluding the basins o ^.^
groat rivers, Euphrates and g^ ^
rise in the .f^^ le their waters at
later historic trm^ffl^ disembogue at
some distance before tne^ fa th g
the head of the p f sian e lan ds had
earliest bMotK ^^^evel by the
not yet been rais ed a-Dov b
- silt which the floods bring ^ d ^
year, and the "vers e ^ modem
separately some way
point of confluence. , Iraq
P Lower Mesopotamia or ^/ r0UgbIy
as it is now called the r g ^
speaking, between Bagdad ^
shares with tne J- areas in
tinction of temgon e^ft; rded Hs _
possession of a contouousy
tow extending over more u 3
unless we may credit CM wr^ .^
a third. The emdy xeco . nscnptions
rX^ t h e Ca ciTnlforni
scriot which the Mesopota-
Ss would -m to h-
-Sthelowr^
this pristine stage was the
W rf the Sumenans, a
people neither Aryan nor
Stic, but of a ^sug-
gesting kinship with th
Whence they came we do
already dwellers in budded
aire*" y Sumerian
rss s^i
SSS ^rciiriorisly
enough while they present
Sly ™t the indigenous
^ho definitely adopted the
cuhure of the conquered,
not vice versa.
^ story of^opotamiad^to^
conquest by Cyrus xr dom inations,
mainly of P^^^elding to the
gradually or sudden ry a , ia wm ch,
lumerian influences rfbaD3 a ^ ^
except when the power oi , t Qr
its greatest height, was tne
recurring culture-centre of
region. _ .. ,, ,„ prP indigenous in
g El ther the Semites were ^^
Upper Mesopotamia and f from
mountains, or ^ c am ^
Arabia through Syna p ac r &
Euphrates. They app erian tow ns
oooo B.C. Till that wm Eridu _have
or states— Lagash, Umma. ^
g* field to the WyeS A The ^
lords are found ulmgn rch g of
elaborates a mighty m certam
Agade, about 270c , b.c., . posite
E | y ptian kings, was P rob aDV wh o, with
K-o or tb«e^ctua Prmc s, sufe . ug
a Sumer, Ce and r ied conquering armies to the
ONE
.GNORANCE IS ANOTHER MAN'S OPPORTUNITY
uii'. "" , p m f,Hno- bv this common illiteracy the
cc Fronting oy un» lAaiu™- ----- — y
l**&^"^*^^%*&^to%^ of any_easual listener
"' - *** A. Harvey
Mitannian monarchies in active diplomatic
Photo, W
Mediterranean on the west and the hills
of Elam (the later Susrana) on the east.
Then the Sumerians recovered an ascend-
ancy tempered bv Elamite conquests till,
a little earlier than the twentieth century,
the Semites again predominated.
In the twentieth century emerges the
neat figure of the Semite Hammurabi,
king of Babylon (in the Hebrew record,
Amraphel, king of Shinar), the contempo-
rary of Abraham, the Semite Sheikh from
whom sprang the Hebrew people. We
find Amraphel in alliance with an Elamite
a Sumenan, and a Hittite king from the
north-west. Hammurabi was a mighty
prince who codified the laws and customs
of Babylonia. His code, in the cuneiform
script, 'survives to this day, witness to a
very advanced political and social organi-
zation which regulated slavery, the
relations of debtor and creditor, employer
and employee, and shows that women
enjoyed a notable freedom.
In the eighteenth century the power «
Babylon was broken by a great Hittite
incursion from beyond the Taurus moun-
tains The Hittites or Khatti retired, but
the ruin they had wrought gave entry to a
new people from the east, apparently
Aryan predecessors of the Medes and
Persians! who set up the dynasty called
Kassite in Babylonia, and a kingdom
known as Mitanni in north-west Mesopo-
tamia, though they only provided their
dominions with an Aryan aristocracy
ruling over a Semite population with a
Sumerian infusion in lower Mesopotamia
Somewhat later we find these Kassite and
relations with the Egyptian Pharaohs,
especially with Amenhotep III. and IV
which brings our story down to the
fourteenth century. .
Assyria now appears on the stage— a
Semite power with its headquarters on the
upper Tigris, pushing itself cautiously
towards a front rank position by playing
off Mitanni against Babylonia, each of
which regarded the growing power as its
own vassal and dependent. The Hittites,
too, thrusting from Asia Mmar were
aiming at an ascendancy m Syria. Mitanni
during the century was crumbling away.
In the thirteenth century the Hittites
became the dominant power of the north-
west, but in the middle of the century
there began a period of chaos in which
Assyria made her first bid for ascendancy ;
the Hittite dominion perished, apparently
of inertia. Babylonia and Assyria strove
against each other with alternating
fortunes, and finally, early m the twelfth
century, the Kassites were elected from
Babylon bv a dynasty of native origin
Names which were to become extremely
familiar at a later date-the first Baby-
lonian Nebuchadrezzar and the first
Assyrian Tiglath-Pileser, both of them
distinguished warriors-appear m the
latter years of the century, but then
there followed two hundred uneventful
years before Assyria again arose por-
tentous, and during that penod there had
arisen that group of Syrian powers the
records of one among which have given to
all peoples nursed upon the Hebrew
2918
IRAK & ITS
- M ni extreme 'rf superficial
Sffie/and the Ass =oam ^ son rf
In the days of J era began
Nehbat, who made israe Adad _ Nira ri.
the revival of Assyria unae B.C.) «*
From the close of hrs rerg ^^ (hk e
registering of annua ° in later days)
that of the R°^f se C0 ^ c U ord of dates m
preserved a P»cise r Adad-Niran s
Assyrian history. In » s 4 uccee ded to the
grandson Ashur-nasi -pa^ ^ long
Iceptre of Nineveh ^ u g yriar ! tyranny.
anc f awful period of the A > stets rf ^
N in eveh stood on »® Thg
Mesopotanuan civihzatio d t he
queror Ashur-nas n- pa o rg.
people of Asstairasapur y t and
existing f°f > he ht &s S '• as the guiding
adopting frf^n'ror. The, rude
principle of the conq ^
Assyrians were framed ^
arms, utterly m^ inflic ting pain,
cruel from sheer delight m werg accom .
Ashur-nasir-pal s view es on
panied by ^e m o s t ruthle ss m ^ ^
Record. Sated ^r *ome J G f his reign
paigning, he pW«£th e c o ^^
m raising magnificent temp ^^
sroi?y
and the other gc^^.J^
not turn upon baby Jon . and the
his conquests was m tne invading
west. His s ° n q S ^eck a t the hands of
Syria, met ^^ffi success of to
Benhadad. 1 he ma y i om a, which
reign was the conquest of &gg ^
he accomplished by «gg£* o necessarily
tion of a dethroned £%££«& In fact,
5t« nSfy ^% the ninth
During the, latter part « ^ by ^
century Assyria was hamp Ararat m
expanding state of V« tftu then there
the northern moimtams dlsint e g ration
followed half ^ fntm^ tiori (745
which was ended by« r tQok the
of the military adventurer t after
name of Jff^% recovered inde-
Babylon had aP^nSsar-and a new
pendence under JNaDo
| ra of devastating conquc ^^
A military demonsrra igdom f
convince Babylonia £ ^ taug ht the
submission. A -^^camp a« les£on _
Ura'
■yf' :
*~r0f 1 if;
5# '
L0 BDLV INDOLENCE BESUDE T« S^^^*&£
among his peers .<= J {
\£T« » watches fl-jj-jj;^ '
2919
IRAK & ITS STORY
Northern Syria and Urartu were smitten.
Then came southern Syria. The two
Hebrew kingdoms were prompt in sub-
mission. ' Wherever resistance had been
offered Tiglath-Pileser introduced the
system most characteristic of Assyrian
conquest — the populations were deported
en masse, and other populations were
imported to take their place.
When all Syria had been rendered
tributary, the conqueror bestowed his
attention on a disordered Babylonia where
Chaldeans from the south-eastern borders
were giving trouble, having overturned
the reigning dynasty. The Assyrian sub-
jugated the Chaldeans, and at last set
on his own head the crown of " Sumer
and Akkad " (729).
Assyria's Splendour and Extinction
A revolt in the south brought upon
Samaria the vengeance of Tiglath-Pileser's
short-lived heir Shalmaneser, who was
succeeded in 722 by Sargon. Sargon
completed the destruction of the kingdom
of Israel. But he found himself ousted
from Babylon by a Chaldean rebel, backed
by the power of Elam. The south
revolted again, and received support from
Egypt. The Assyrian arms were com-
pletely victorious, but the conquest of
Egypt was postponed. The empire was
again being threatened from the north-
west and north-east. Conquest -was im-
.practicable, but Saigon's return from the
south brought a pacification of the
borders, and the Chaldean Merodach
Baladan was suppressed in Babylonia.
Sargon's successor Sennacherib lost
Babylon to the Chaldeans and Elamites,
but recovered it again. His unsuccessful
expedition against Egypt and the destruc-
tion of his host is recorded in the Hebrew
chronicle and by Herodotus, but not in
the Assyrian register. The Egyptian con-
quest was actually effected by his son
Esarhaddon, and completed by the next
king, Ashurbanipal (Sardanapalus), who
also waged war upon Elam, to the com-
plete destruction of that power.
Empire follows Empire in the East
But when he died, in 626, the vast, un-
wieldy empire was hopelessly unmanage-
able, for the Assyrian never organized an
imperial system like Darius a century later.
Under feeble successors it broke up into
its component parts. Babylon once more
set up a Chaldean dynasty, and in con-
junction with the newly-arisen power of
Media fell upon Assyria. In 606 b.c. the
tyrant power was blotted out for ever.
Babylon rose again on the ashes of
Nineveh. Nebuchadrezzar, as a con-
queror, continued the Assyrian practice
of deportation. He was also a great
military engineer, and the probable creator
of those " hanging gardens " which were
counted among " the seven wonders of
the world." But his reign ended in 562 ;
his successors were incompetent, and in
539 Cyrus the Persian turned upon
Babylon from his victories in the west,
captured it, and absorbed it into the
Persian empire of which he was the
creator. From that time Mesopotamia
was never anything but a province of one
empire or another, until in the eighth
century (a.d.) Bagdad rose to prominence
as the headquarters of the Moslem
Caliphate.
After Persia was overthrown by Alex-
ander the Great the Macedonian empire
fell to pieces. Mesopotamia went to the
Seleucids, but in course of time, when the
dominion of the Parthian nomads arose
in the east, Irak, or Babylonia, was
generally included in the Parthian empire.
Rome never established a continuous
authority beyond the Euphrates. In the
early centuries of the Christian era Parthia
gave way to a new Persian empire, which,
in its turn, generally kept its hold upon
Mesopotamia, though in perpetual conflict
with the eastern Roman empire after
Constantinople became its headquarters.
The contest reached its climax at the
beginning of the seventh century (a.d.),
but was brought to an end by the sudden
irruption of the followers of Mahomet.
Vicissitudes under Moslem Sway
In 632, the year of the Prophet's death,
Persia had been greatly weakened by its
struggle with the emperor Heraclius. It
still kept its hold upon Irak proper, the
old Babylonia ; Syria and the old Assyria
were more or less subject to the empire.
The first caliphs turned the arms of the
Arabs upon Persia and Syria separately.
Within ten years all that had ever formed
part of the Assyrian or Babylonian empires
was under Moslem sway.
Both Irak and Syria were mainly
Semitic, but Irak was largely impregnated
with what may be called cosmopolitan
but especially Persian influences, and also
by a hereditary hostility to the Syrians.
During the next hundred years, while
Islam was confused by sectarian an-
tagonisms, the orthodox Caliphate, resting
upon Syria and with its headquarters at
Damascus, found Irak and Persia per-
petual hotbeds of disaffection; and when,
in the middle of the eighth century, the
Ommiad caliphs were, in the east, over-
turned by the Abbasides (descendants of
the Prophet's uncle), the Abbasid caliphs
established their headquarters in Irak ;
through which lay not only the road
communications with the farther east, but
also the sea communications by way of
the newly-established Basra on the Shat-
el-Arab at the head of the Persian Gulf.
Here a new court and a new city were
established at Bagdad on the Tigris, which
^
\
IRAK & ITS STORY
may be said to have taken the place of
the ancient Babylon. Before the end
of the century Bagdad had become the
wealthiest, the most luxurious, ^* the
most enlightened city m a world where
enlightenment was as yet very much to
seek, though the splendour of the great
Haroun Al Raschid ( 7 86-8og) is not without
legendary elements, like that of his great
contemporary Charlemagne
Not only was Bagdad the centre of
commerce, the terminus of the caravans
from the east, it was the centre also of
the most active literary; and scientific
culture of the middle " Middle Ages.
Even the Hellenism which had perished in
Western Europe was preserved or revived
by the Bagdad Caliphate, and filtered into
the west from Saracen more than from
Byzantine sources. And it is curious to
find that an infinitelv wider toleration was
permitted to diversities of regions opinion
than in the Western world till many
centuries later. The Arab might wage war
on S but the infidel might go his own
ignorant way, and the heretic might
preach what he chose so long as Ins
neresies were not politically subversive
The Arabianised Irak was great as the
seat of a powerful Arab Caliphate Its
political importance waned as the Abbasid
dynasty found itself compelled to rely
upon mercenary forces, instead of upon
the traditional' tribal system of levies
for the maintenance of its own authority.
Islam spread into the Trans-Oxus ; regions
where it found fanatical adherents m the
Turkish tribes ; the Turk mercenaries
called in by the caliphs, soon became then-
actual masters while nominally their
servants. The Turkish ascendancy re-
duced Irak to impotence Mnnffn i<,
The devastating inroad of the Mongols
in the thirteenth century completed its
ruin Persia broke away from Bagdad,
and for some centuries Irak was alternately
a province of the Turkish or the + neo-
Persian dominion till in the, seventeenth
century it was permanently mcorporated
in the Ottoman empire. As m all areas
dominated by the Turk, not only did all
progress cease, retrogression took its place.
Long before the nineteenth century
Mesopotamia had reverted to the primitive
Semitic tribal conditions which preceded
Hammurabi, while Turkish l rule meant
little but the exaction, of taxes tor tne
benefit more of Turkish officials than of the
government they were supposed to serve.
The available statistics at the beginning
of the twentieth century gave about
two-thirds of the population as Arabs
(the prevalent language is Arabic) Kurds
the hillmen who troubled the Shalma-
nesers) and Turks making up almost
another quarter, the miscellaneous rem-
nant being chiefly congregated in the
towns. The population of upper Meso-
potamia is much more sparse than that
of Irak proper.
In the latter part of the nineteenth century
there set in a period of European compe-
tition for concessions, the British haying
already established a considerable trade
and an appreciable influence which was
jealously regarded in other quarters.
• When in the first months of the Great
War Turkey threw in her lot with Ger-
many, Arabia, with the approval of the
Allies rejected the Turkish authority
and recognized the King of Hejaz, The
Turkish armies hi Mesopotamia were
finally shattered in the campaign of iqiH.
The Turk was ejected from Mesopotamia,
of which the administration was tem-
porarily assigned to Britain as mandatory
of the Powers.
But it was by no means clear that the
Arab tribes would accept a British pro-
tectorate even with Arab autonomy as
an ultimate goal; and in 1921 the Arab
Emir Feisal, son of King Hussein of
Hejaz, accepted the proffer of the crown
of Irak upon certain understandings—
generally presumed to mean that the
British administration would carry _ on
with his authority, pending the organiza-
tion of the new State under British,
guardianship, of which the immediate
withdrawal could only result m chaos.
With the proclamation of King Feisal on
August 23, 1921, our story closes.
IRAK: FACTS
T District" between Kurdistan north Syria and
Palestine west. Arabia south, and Persia east.
Total area estimated at 143,250 square mto.
Includes vilayets of Bagdad, Basra, and Mosul.
Population (1920), 2,849,282.
G Ifte r r n ?he n Great War recognized as an inde-
to siacceed the 'provisional Council oi State.
D Exce C pt with consent of Mandatory, local
forces to L employed solely for the mamtenance of
order and defence.
AND FIGURES
Commerce and Industries
0^arah^^osS:and^S!nXli.^tume^
behrg developed by irrigation. Principal exports,
carncts and grain. Railways link Basra.Samarra,
Kefil HUla, Bagdad, Kuraitu, Kazimam, Kala
Shergat and Kut-el-Amara. Telegraph lines,
2,995 miles. Chief seaport, Basra.
Religion and Education
About 1,146,680 Sunni Mahomedans, i,494,ooo
Shians 87,488 Jews, 78,790 Christians. Numerous
Government schools ; special attention given to
secondary and technical education.
2921
ilils
'*
:®
W*iii
jfP§l
MfetiSt§
wm
BAREFOOT BEAUTY STOOPS TO FILL HER BUCKET
Where the young stream bursts impetuously from the grassy hilltop, making before the black entrance
of this stone-mouthed tunnel a frothy, bubble-flecked pool beneath the brambles, a sweet-featured
colleen leans to swing her stout bucket down to the water. Her face she has draped demurely with
a biight-hued handkerchief, but, against the background of rock, there are charms less effectually veiled
Photo, Horace W. Nicholh
2922
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